Everything about Machine Politics totally explained
A
political machine is an unofficial system of a political organization based on
patronage, the
spoils system, "behind-the-scenes" control, and longstanding political ties within the structure of a
representative democracy. Machines sometimes have a
boss, and always have a long-term corps of dedicated workers who depend on the patronage generated by government contracts and jobs. Machine politics has existed in many
United States cities, especially between about 1875 and 1950, but continuing in some cases down to the present day. It is also common (under the name
clientelism or
political clientelism) in
Latin America, especially in rural areas, and also in some African states and other emerging democracies, like postcommunist Eastern European countries. Japan's
Liberal Democratic Party is often cited as another political machine, maintaining power in
suburban and
rural areas through its control of farm bureaus and road construction agencies. (American Journey, 2005)
The key to a political machine is patronage: holding public office implies the ability to do favors (and also the ability to profit from
political corruption). Political machines generally steer away from issue-based politics, favoring a
quid pro quo (something for something) with certain aspects of a
barter economy or
gift economy: the patron or "
boss" does favors for the constituents, who then vote as they're told to. Sometimes this system of favors is supplemented by threats of violence or harassment toward those who attempt to step outside of it.
Political machines in the United States
In the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century, it was mainly the larger cities that had machines —
Boston,
Chicago,
Cleveland,
New York City,
Philadelphia,
Kansas City, etc. — and each city's machine was run by a "boss," a man who had the allegiance of local business leaders,
elected officials and their appointees, and who knew the proverbial buttons to push to get things done. There were benefits and problems because of political machines ruling.
Many machines formed in cities to serve
immigrants to the U.S. in the late 19th century. Many immigrants viewed machines as a vehicle for political enfranchisement. Additionally, many immigrants were unfamiliar with the sense of civic duty that was part of American
republicanism. They traded votes for power. The main role of the
machine staffers was to win elections—usually by turning out large numbers of voters on election day. Occasionally illegal tactics were used in local elections (but rarely in state or presidential elections).
Civic-minded citizens, such as the
Mugwumps, denounced the corruption of the political machines. They achieved national civil-service reform and worked to replace local patronage systems with civil service. By
Theodore Roosevelt's time, the
Progressive Era mobilized millions of civic minded citizens to fight the machines. In the 1930s,
James A. Farley was the chief dispenser of the Democratic Party's patronage system through the
Postal Department and the
Works Progress Administration (WPA) which eventually nationalized many of the job benefits machines provided. The
New Deal allowed machines to recruit for the WPA and
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), making Farley's machine the most powerful, all patronage was screened through Farley including Presidential appointments. The
New Deal machine fell apart after
James A. Farley left the administration over the third term in 1940. Those agencies were abolished in 1943 and the machines suddenly lost much of their patronage. In any case the poor immigrants who benefited under
James A. Farley's National machine had become assimilated and prosperous and no longer needed the informal or extralegal aides provided by machines. In the 1940s most of the big city machines collapsed, with the notable exception of the
Chicago machine. A local political machine in
Tennessee was forcibly removed in what was known as the
Battle of Athens.
Machines are often said to have drawn their strength from, and served as a power base for, ethnic immigrant populations. In truth it was primarily Irish immigrants who benefited from the Machine system, which reached its pinnacle under
James A. Farley during
Franklin D. Roosevelt's
New Deal administration. Also, even among the Irish, help for new immigrants declined over time. It was in the party machines' interests to only maintain a minimally winning amount of support. Once they were in the majority and could count on a win, there was less need to recruit new members, as this only meant a thinner spread of the patronage rewards to be spread among the party members. As such, later-arriving immigrants, such as Jews, Italians, and other immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, rarely saw any reward from the machine system. At the same time, most of political machines' staunchest opponents were members of the established class (nativist Protestants).
Since the 1960s, some historians have reevaluated political machines, considering them corrupt but also efficient. Machines were undemocratic, but at least responsive. They were corrupt, but they were also able to contain the spending demands of special interests. In
Mayors and Money, a comparison of municipal government in Chicago and New York,
Ester R. Fuchs credited the
Chicago Democratic Machine with giving Mayor
Richard J. Daley the political power to deny
labor union contracts that the city couldn't afford and to make the state government assume burdensome costs like
welfare and courts. Describing New York, Fuchs wrote, "New York got reform, but it never got good government." At the same time, as Dennis R. Judd and Todd Swanstrom point out in
City Politics, ISBN, this view often coincided with a lack of period alternatives. They go on to point out that this is a falsehood, since there are certainly examples of reform oriented, anti-machine leaders during this time.
Hazen Pingree is one such example. Though sometimes labeled as a "boss", Pingree in fact didn't operate under the same type of patronage system that characterized the Machines. While this hardly settles the matter in either direction, it's simply important to remember that the legacy of the Political Party Machines in the 19th and 20th centuries remains ambiguous at best.
Smaller communities as
Parma, Ohio in the post-Cold War Era under Prosecutor Bill Mason's "Good Old Boys" and especially communities in the Deep South, where small-town machine politics are relatively common also feature what might be classified as political machines, although these organizations don't have the power and influence of the larger boss networks listed in this article. For example, the “Cracker Party” was a Democratic Party political machine that dominated city politics in
Augusta, Georgia for over half of the 20th century.
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Notable "Bosses" and their political machines
» See also Political boss and .
State Bosses
County Bosses
Daniel P. O'Connell of Albany County, New York
Leander Perez of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana
George Norcross of Camden County, New Jersey
George Parr of Duval County, Texas
Since Richard J. Daley was simultaneously head of the Cook County Democratic Organization for all of his reign as mayor of Chicago, some might also classify him as a county boss.
John Stroger of Cook County, Illinois
Joseph Margiotta of Nassau County, New York
City Bosses
A.A. Ames of Minneapolis
Martin Behrman of New Orleans
"Blind Boss" Buckley of San Francisco
Fred A. Busse of Chicago
Edward R. Butler of St. Louis
George Cox of Cincinnati
Edward H. Crump of Memphis
James Michael Curley of Boston
Richard J. Daley of Chicago
Tom Dennison of Omaha
William Flinn of Pittsburgh
Frank Hague of Jersey City
Roy Vincent Harris of Augusta, Georgia
Pete McDonough San Francisco
Robert E. McKisson of Cleveland
William F. Miller of Cincinnati
Tom Pendergast of Kansas City
Abe Ruef of San Francisco
William Tweed of New York City
William S. Vare of Philadelphia
John Henry Whallen of Louisville, Kentucky
David Miller of Toronto, Ontario, CanadaFurther Information
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